


Close Your Eyes

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Season 2 spoilers, Self-Doubt, Team as Family, keith is too hard on himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 05:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9870386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He isn't strong enough for them. How can he keep them all safe like this? He needs to train and become what they need of him.--Brief look into Keith's self doubting mind through seasons 1 and 2.





	

**Author's Note:**

> heads up, i'm not a good writer (or at least, i haven't written in a very long time) so please keep that in mind ;w;/  
> anyway, hope you enjoy!

Keith is always tired. It's a constant state for him. But he knew, he  _ knew _ that he couldn’t rest, not if he wanted to be useful to the team. He needed to be strong enough for them.

Pidge was so young, they had their entire life to look forward to. Keith would do anything to let them live it with their brother and father, knowing they were safe. Hunk was so kind, too kind in Keith’s opinion, and he was just...too soft, not yet ready to realize what war could do to the mind. Lance had so much to return to. He would often reflect with the rest of the team about how charming his family was. About how much he wished he could see them once more. And then there was Shiro. Keith would go through hell and back to let Shiro rest easy and not have to worry any longer about the galra.

This is why he trains. He will not let them down. He loves his family, they are all he has and all he ever needed.

Then Allura gets captured on what was a simple infiltration mission.  _ He wasn’t good enough. _ She had been with Shiro while Keith waited with the others. He had gone off alone to investigate the quintessence and needed Pidge to get him an extraction.  _ She would have been fine had he been able to fight off that druid. _

After they get her back, Keith’s lion gives out when he tries to defend the black lion from Zarkon.  _ He could have ended it all had he been strong enough to fight Zarkon. _ And Shiro had come to his rescue soon thereafter only for the team to get separated by a corrupt wormhole.

Keith remembers being useless as he and red plummeted down to the rocky, gray planet terrain. But Shiro had been there, and Keith was able to protect him from those lizard creatures. He saved Shiro, but there was purple oozing from the black paladin’s side.  _ Had Keith not been fast enough? _ No… No, it was from a druid.

Shiro keeps mentioning to Keith if something were to happen to him that Keith would need to lead Voltron.  _ No, he can’t. He isn’t strong enough. _ It creates a sinking feeling in the pit of Keith’s gut. He needs to train, he needs to protect Shiro.

And so he does, but it never is enough. Zarkon is always one step ahead of them.  _ Is Keith one of them?  _ Protect his family from the galra. _ He needs to protect them from himself. _ If he is strong enough, they will not find out. He can do this and keep his family safe.

Keith is galran. He’s one of them.  _ Not good enough to protect them from this, he is a strain on their team. _ Allura won’t look at him, she won’t speak to him. He has failed her, and he worries that he has failed the rest of his family.  _ They will leave him, abandon him like his dad had. _ He trains.

Keith met someone he felt he could trust. It was brief, their acquaintance. Thace was his name, he was everything Keith aspired to become. He was strong, loyal, and he gave his life for his team.  _ Keith hadn’t been able to keep even Thace safe. _

Shiro… Shiro’s gone. And Keith can’t breath. He wasn’t strong enough, and now he can’t seem to find his bearings. Shiro had been so much of an anchor in Keith’s life, and now he’s missing and Keith feels hopeless.  _ The others know. _ They know he isn’t strong enough to lead. They know that Keith is weak and he can’t be there for them.

Keith _can’t_ promise Pidge he will find their family. He _can’t_ keep the pain of war and the loss that war brings away from Hunk. He doubts they will ever go back to Earth, that Lance will be able to see his family, again. Keith can’t even keep himself from losing his family. _They will know he wasn’t enough, and they will abandon him. He knows this because if he were them, he would, too._

_ He wasn’t good enough, not strong en-- _

“Keith.” The red paladin snaps out of his trance and whips his head to the direction of the voice. He’s met with several worried stares. “You…” Lance spoke in a slow, thoughtful manner, “You don’t think that way about yourself, do you?” There’s worry in his eyes.  _ He’s failed them. _

Keith swallow, he feels like he's plummeted into in ice cold water.  _ How much did they hear? _ “I.. I--” He's cut off by large arms wrapping secure around his shaking frame.  _ Why was he shaking? _ Then, there were many arms around him, squeezing him tight. It felt good. He slips up, a sob hiccups from his chest, then another, two more, and like that, a dam has started to burst. Tears and pained sobs escape him. Finally, he lets himself succumb to his own misery with his family sheltering him. Keeping him safe. They all are crying at some point, but Keith’s mind is becoming sluggish.

His eyelids feel heavy and he lets them slip closed. He presses his head against a shoulder and lets himself finally rest. The fears and worries of tomorrow finally lifting from his shoulders for if only a little while.


End file.
